Recent Updates
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New trial ordered in NYC for ex-food service boss
Lawyer Blogs 07/02/2010A federal appeals court ordered a new trial Thursday for the former chief marketing officer of one of the nation's biggest food products distributors, saying errors by a judge make it necessary to dissolve the conviction and the seven-year prison ter...
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Court lets Vatican-sex abuse lawsuit move forward
Lawyer Blogs 07/01/2010The Supreme Court won't stop a lawsuit that accuses the Vatican of transferring a priest from city to city despite repeated accusations of sexual abuse.The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the Holy See, the legal name for the Vatic...
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SEC paying $755K to settle with fired lawyer
Lawyer Blogs 06/30/2010The Securities and Exchange Commission is paying $755,000 to settle a lawsuit with a former staff lawyer who accused the agency of blocking his investigation of a prominent hedge fund.The SEC settlement of Gary Aguirre's wrongful termination claim re...
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Kagan on guns: Court precedents are 'settled law'
Lawyer Blogs 06/29/2010Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan says she considers recent high court decisions expanding gun rights to be "settled law."Kagan was asked at her confirmation hearing about two recent decisions, including a 5-4 ruling Monday, which essentially guarant...
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US top court extends gun rights to states, cities
Lawyer Blogs 06/28/2010The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday extended gun rights to every state and city in the nation in a ruling involving Chicago's 28-year-old handgun ban.By a 5-4 vote and splitting along conservative and liberal lines, the nation's highest court extended i...
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Kilpatrick lawyer: He'll battle this indictment
Lawyer Blogs 06/25/2010A lawyer for Kwame Kilpatrick said Thursday that the ex-Detroit mayor would fight Wednesday's indictment."Mr. Kilpatrick will vigorously defend these allegations," Farmington Hills attorney Arnold Reed said at a news conference. He said an indictment...
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High court sides with ex-Enron CEO Skilling
Lawyer Blogs 06/24/2010The Supreme Court has sided with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in limiting the use of a federal fraud law that has been a favorite of white-collar crime prosecutors.The court said Thursday that the "honest services" law could not be used in convi...
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2nd Mass. man to change plea in black church arson
Lawyer Blogs 06/22/2010A second man is expected to change his not-guilty plea in the arson fire that destroyed a predominantly black Massachusetts church hours after Barack Obama was elected president.Thomas Gleason Jr. has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled Tuesday in U.S...
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Judge: Slaughterhouse manager will get 27 years
Lawyer Blogs 06/22/2010A former vice president of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse will be sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $27 million restitution for his conviction on financial fraud charges, a federal judge said Monday.Chief U.S. District Court Ju...
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High court upholds anti-terror law
Lawyer Blogs 06/21/2010The Supreme Court has upheld a federal law that bars "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations, rejecting a free speech challenge from humanitarian aid groups.The court ruled 6-3 Monday that the government may prohibit all forms of aid to...
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Pa. ex-lawmaker to be sentenced in corruption case
Lawyer Blogs 06/18/2010A central figure in Pennsylvania's legislative corruption case — former lawmaker Mike Veon — is scheduled for sentencing in Harrisburg.The former state House Democratic whip is to appear Friday before Dauphin Court Judge Richard Lewis.Veon stands con...
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US court tosses protester's arrest at Liberty Bell
Lawyer Blogs 06/17/2010An anti-abortion protester arrested in 2007 had a First Amendment right to demonstrate on a sidewalk near the entrance the building that houses the Liberty Bell, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.The decision overturns lower-court rulings that ...